AMD Radeon HD 7770 & 7750 Launch Review - PAGE 3

Along with the changes to the architecture, AMD is also introducing Eyefinity 2.0. For the most part, the changes are being made at the driver level but there is one new feature being added to the Southern Islands graphics cards.

The new features gives Southern Islands cards the ability to simultaneously output multiple, independent audio streams. Essentially this means each video source that has the ability to support audio will have its own dedicated audio signal. This allows a single graphics card to connect to multiple displays, each having its own audio signal. In total the graphics card can support up to five audio signals. You can be fragging people on one monitor while watching your favorite show on another, also connected to the Southern Islands graphics card. The technology also follows the video so if the source changes, the audio seamlessly switches to the other device as well. This is actually an interesting feature that really pushes the expansion options of the Radeon series forward.

The next feature is one that we have been hoping would come along for some time now, namely the merging of Eyefinity and HD3D. Unlike the previous feature, having a Southern Islands graphics card is not required to run Eyefinity in 3D. Instead this is a simple driver update that will enable the feature for all graphics cards that already support both technologies. Stereoscopic 3D technology from both AMD and NVIDIA is still niche at best, but we are glad AMD is moving forward and taking Eyefinty to its next logical step.

Another driver fix is the addition of flexible bezel compensation. The image below should give you a good idea of what this is all about. Essentially, it allows anyone to pair three non-identical monitors together and not have to worry about the images not lining up. Instead, the user can adjust the displays and still have the on screen image align perfectly across the displays.

AMD has also added a task bar positioning feature. Anyone that uses Eyefinity knows that previous drivers pushed the main desktop display to the leftmost screen. With this new positioning feature, the user can now pick which display the task bar is set to. Again, this is a huge improvement over the previous generation Eyefinity, and will make using this technology more convenient as the main desktop can now be manually configured to fit the individual needs of any Eyefinity user.

Eyefinity 2.0 also includes a custom resolution feature allowing the display resolution to be manually set to best fit the users' needs. While most gamers will be happy simply setting the resolution to 5760x1080, there are a handful of people that prefer even greater customization. The new Eyefinity 2.0 adds support for 5x1 Landscape with 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 monitors. This means Eyefinity is no longer limited to monitors at or below 1080p, increasing the available display real estate even further.